A total 5,210 were newly registered as unemployed in May, down 9.1% year-on-year and up 0.4% from April.

Of the 8,642 persons who were removed from the unemployed roll in May, 6,084 got a job or became self-employed, which is down 12.2% from April and down 6.8% from May 2016.

Most of the newly unemployed (2,835) became so after their fixed-term job contracts expired, 570 were first job seekers and 919 were made redundant or their company went bankrupt.

In the first five months of the year, an average 95,801 a month were registered as out of a job, a decline of 13.3% compared to the same period a year ago.

From January to the end of May, 35,194 were registered as newly unemployed, down 8.7% year-on-year. The reason for most was because their fixed-term jobs ended (20,555).

In the first five months of the year, 35,319 found a job. That is 8.5% fewer than in the same period a year ago.

The last available data for the registered unemployment rate is for March, when it stood at 10.2% or 0.7 percentage points down from February.